THE SENESES: NO LONGER A UNION DYNASTY

It triggered a time of terror and government crackdown that would imperil not only the victim and his two sons, but also end a family dynasty.

On Wednesday, the federal government took aim at the family of Dominic Senese, ordering his son Lucien, until a few years ago secretary-treasurer of Teamsters union Local 703, barred for life from union activity.

And Lucien's brother, Joseph, is being sued by members of his own union.

For the Senese clan, it is a tale of great power, suspected mob influence, personal injury and a fall from grace.

Dominic Senese, crusty veteran boss of Local 703, had paused in his union sedan on the night of Jan. 21, 1988, to unlock an electronic security gate outside the Oak Brook subdivision where he lived.

Hiding not far from symbols of Senese family power-horse-drawn teamster wagons and wagon wheels that adorned Senese's lawn-the gunman fired at point-blank range, striking his prey in the face and shattering his jaw.

Remarkably, Senese, at age 71, survived the ambush assassination attempt. He even managed to steer his way home and stagger inside under his own power.

But he would never regain the power he'd held-at first with organized crime backing and later as a mob maverick, authorities said, since achieving prominence in the city's produce markets where the union has commanded 2,500 workers and warehousemen since the 1950s.

Senese had been sent a message: Step aside or else, investigators reasoned, though neither a motive for the shooting nor the gunman's identity ever were established.

But if the mob had set out and failed to get Senese, the mob's archenemy-the federal government-would succeed. Two years later, in 1990, a court-appointed administrator of the Teamsters union ordered Dominic Senese permanently ousted as head of mob-dominated Local 703. In 1992 and no longer in power, Dominic Senese died of natural causes.

On Wednesday, the same court-appointed administrator issued an identical barred-for-life order against Lucien Senese.

But if the order was a victory for reform efforts, it was a hollow one.

Lucien Senese, disabled by a bomb attack on his own life, hasn't held office in the Teamsters for at least the last year.

Lucien's car was bombed outside his girlfriend's home in the South Side Little Italy section in 1990 at a time when he tried to succeed his father and gain control of Local 703, authorities contended. The local has since been placed under Teamster trusteeship, making the national headquarters the overseer of major local activities.

But like his father in later years, the son encountered resistance from underworld figures who it appeared had their own agenda for the union. Lucien narrowly survived the bombing and was left partially disabled.

The bombing came only days after a federal judge in New York upheld the order ousting the elder Senese from the Local 703 presidency, and when the son was primed to take over.

In the order ousting Lucien Senese, the logic was inescapable: The sins of the father, real or imaginery, had come back to haunt a son.

According to the order, court administrator Frederick Lacey had found Lucien Senese unfit for Teamster office because Lucien hadn't investigated his father's alleged ties to the mob when both held office in 703.

Efforts to reach Lucien Senese for comment were unsuccessful Wednesday.

Two other past or present officers of the local also were disciplined by Lacey, ostensibly for the same reason-failing to check mob influence in the union.

William Raimondi and James Bertino each were ordered suspended for two years from taking part in any Teamsters activity.

Raimondi, a Senese foe, ran unsuccessfully for secretary-treasurer in 1989. Bertino is a former 703 business agent who later transferred to Teamsters Local 738.

With Local 703 under union trusteeship and Lucien Senese effectively sidelined by the bombing, many of its members have switched to another union, headed by another Senese family member.

Joseph V. Senese, Lucien`s older brother, is president of the National Production Workers Union. No harm has come to him, thanks in part to expenditures of large sums of money from that union's treasury to provide him with 24-hour security at his home in Hinsdale and union office at 806 W. Washington Blvd., Chicago.

Joseph Senese has spent so much money on personal security-$483,000 in 1991 alone, according to union filings-that dissident members led by Production Workers Vice President Frank Stroud have taken him to federal court seeking a financial accounting.

Senese has said he fears for his safety because of the attacks on his brother and late father.

The union, a catch-all labor organization of truck drivers, white-collar workers, registered nurses and other skilled workers, teeters on bankrupcty, according to filings in the court case. Dissidents say the union has lost 2,300 members.

"He (Senese) controls the union through intimidation and fear," said Stroud, who charged he was fired by Senese when he questioned how the union could afford to spend $675,000 on Senese's salary, expenses and protection costs. That was in 1991 when the union reported gross receipts of $1.1 million, according to court records.

"Senese has the power of a czar," Stroud said in a recent interview.

"Except for his salary ($132,631), which is determined by a board, he alone makes the rules, calls the meetings and hires employees for union jobs." he said. "If you are a rubber stamp, he leaves you alone. If not, he is your enemy."

Senese has accused his critics of deliberately trying to undermine him.

"I expect everyone to have a positive and cooperative attitude," he said in an internal union memo Dec. 22. "Negativity . . . will not be tolerated."